The last word of the defendant Alexander Rumyantsev in Moscow

 RUSSIA 

 

The last word of the defendant Alexander Rumyantsev in Moscow

December 22, 2023

Moscow

The believer said he was proud to be a Jehovah's Witness: "The Bible teaches me not to harm others, but how to make life better for myself and those around me." He added: "You can take away my freedom or even my life, but you can't take away my love for God and my neighbors."

Transcript of the court session in the Cheremushkinsky District Court of Moscow dated 12/22/2023 in the case 01-0211/2023 (01-1003/2022) against Rumyantsev Alexander Vyacheslavovich and others. of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Rumyantsev Alexander Vyacheslavovich:

I want to express my gratitude to everyone here. I am grateful to Natalia Germanovna for her support and conscientiously doing her job. I am also grateful to the respected State Prosecutor. I understand you well that you are doing your job. I am also grateful to Anna Alekseevna, she was always ready to help us with some clerical statements. I am grateful to everyone who supports me and is grateful to my mother. I want to assure her of my love, to assure her that nothing can separate us and separate us from mutual love.

Also, Your Honor, I am grateful to you, Sergey Alexandrovich, for the fact that despite my legal illiteracy, you constantly patiently explained the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and standards of conduct. Thank you very much for your patience.

What did I want to say in that last word? I wanted to draw attention to the fact that I started practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1998. I would like to point out that this was long before the establishment of the Local Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow. In general, Jehovah's Witnesses appeared in Russia at the end of the XIX century. At the beginning of the XX century, religious associations were already formed in Russia, which held divine services. Accordingly, this was also long before the appearance of a legal entity (the Jehovah's Witnesses MRO in Moscow). And the faithful conducted these services without needing legal entities. This also applies to meetings where believers learn to preach. Interestingly, the first such meeting was held by Jesus Christ back in the first century. Just such a meeting is mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, where attention is drawn to the fact that Jesus and his apostles discussed two biblical thoughts that they wanted to share with people. And, as we understand it, there were no legal entities at that time.

I was not a Jehovah's Witness when I started attending their worship services. I knew for sure that attending divine services and spreading the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses can be carried out by a person without participating in the activities of any religious association. And since it was before the appearance of the Jehovah's Witnesses MRO in Moscow, it cannot be considered as part of the activities of this legal entity, the continuation or resumption of its activities. Just in the Charter of the Jehovah's Witnesses NGO in Moscow, paragraph 4.19 states that religious groups of Jehovah's Witnesses are independent religious associations and are not included in the structure of the organization. The founders did not plan to include all Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow, and there are about 10,000 of them. There were only 12 people in this organization. In paragraphs 4.16—4.17, it is explicitly stated that the MRO did not plan to control actions for the confession and dissemination of faith. It is explicitly stated that this MRO in Moscow will not take into account or control whether any Jehovah's Witness participates in other associations. This concerned both the members of the Committee and the Council of the MRO, as well as other Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Jehovah's Witnesses NGO in Moscow has not been accused of extremist activities. The reason for the liquidation of the Management Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia was the importation into Russia of literature that this legal entity did not publish and which at the time of import was not included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials. The inclusion of some imported publications occurred later, and the import of literature to Russia was discontinued in the winter of 2015. The MPO of Jehovah's Witnesses did not exist in Moscow at that time, so it could not store and distribute this imported literature.

The Supreme Court's decision of April 20, 2017 on the liquidation of the Management Center and all the MRO of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia returned me to the position I had at the time of March 25, 2015, that is, before the establishment of the MRO in Moscow. I had no intention of resuming its activities.

When I started practicing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1998, then I had a desire to worship God, and not participate in the activities of a legal entity of this denomination. After the liquidation of the Jehovah's Witnesses MRO in Moscow, as a law-abiding citizen, I complied with this court decision. I understood that until this decision was legally overturned, for example, as a result of the adoption of a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights or as a result of decisions by Russian law enforcement agencies to protect human and civil rights and freedoms, it would be impossible to carry out the activities of a legal entity.

My phone conversations were tapped, audio recordings were made in my apartment, but there was no such thing as me offering to convene a meeting of the council of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow, or at least exclaiming in my heart that I wish it. No, Your Honor, I didn't want that. It is true that the motive of many of my actions is religious. But the Bible teaches me not to harm others, but how to make life better for myself and those around me. That is why I take the Bible seriously, what is written there. The command "let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit", recorded in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, saved me from bad habits such as smoking and alcohol abuse.

It has benefited both myself and the people around me. After all, they did not have to inhale poisoned air or suffer from an alcoholic neighbor. Your Honor, you've probably had to deal with victims of this potion. I, Your Honor, am not like that. Another good principle that I apply in my life is: "Everything is allowed to me, yes, but not everything is for my benefit; everything is allowed to me, but nothing should take over me" (1 Corinthians 6:12). People have the opportunity to smoke, but it does not benefit, and also causes severe addiction. It was my faith in God that saved me from these consequences. Your Honor, imagine how many lives could have been saved if people had listened to this command! But if I remain silent, if Jehovah's Witnesses remain silent, then this will be a manifestation of hatred towards people. On the contrary, only love motivates me and my co-religionists to help people learn this and similar advice from the Bible. What I am saying now, I am not saying out of fear of punishment. I am not marginalized to do something or not to do it, just for fear of criminal liability.

For 25 years now, I have been trying to live by the laws and norms of the Bible, which in many areas of life are higher than the requirements of criminal and other laws. So, for example, if the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation requires only not to harm other people, then God's law encourages us to show love, kindness, compassion to all people and even love those who are hostile to me. From the laws of God, I learned that God cares not only what I do, but even what I think about. I realized this by reflecting on the tenth commandment, which says that you cannot desire anything that belongs to my neighbor: neither a house, nor his wife, nor an ox, nothing else. This commandment forbids greed and envy. None of the people can control the observance of this commandment, because no one will know whether another person wants something or not. God himself sees its fulfillment. It reminds me that I am giving an account to God, who sees the aspiration of my heart, my motives. Therefore, God's commandments encourage me to avoid bad motives. I try to control my thoughts and avoid greed, hatred, enmity and dissatisfaction with my life. This knowledge protects me from the temptation to take something else's or act immorally. They do not allow you to have extremist motives and beliefs.

By the fact that I participated in meetings of the Council of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow before the beginning of 2017, I did not violate the law. The Council did not discuss or plan to discuss any extremist activity. So I acted like a law-abiding citizen. By the fact that I did not participate in the meetings of the Council of the Jehovah's Witnesses NGO in Moscow after April 20, 2017, I also complied with the law. Finally, my independent actions in professing the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses comply with the law of the Russian Federation. But for some reason that I don't understand, the investigation regards my lawful actions as a crime. The fact that I am a Jehovah's Witness also means that I am a law-abiding citizen.

For more than half of my life, I have been guided by the Bible, which says: "Obey, for the sake of the Lord, all human institutions, the authority of the emperor, because he is the supreme authority, the ruler, because they are sent to punish criminals and reward those who do good" (1 Peter 2:13). And now, Your Honor, it is very painful and bitter for me that such an injustice is happening. But I am sure that in this trial, the truth will prevail over the lies. This is well stated in the Bible: "Wicked deeds are abominable to kings, the throne will be established by righteousness" (Proverbs 16:12). I am sure that you, Your Honor, like everyone present here, like me, are also interested in a strong state.

I have never given any instructions to the members of the Jehovah's Witnesses MRO in Moscow and have not made a decision on the admission of new members to the MRO. When drafting the indictment, the investigator did not take into account that there can be no membership in religious organizations after 2014. That year, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation was amended, so even religious organizations registered before 2014 were required to amend the Charter, excluding the possibility of membership from it. The Jehovah's Witnesses MRO in Moscow was registered in 2015. Therefore, not only did she have no members, but she couldn't even have them. As for the participants, those believers who were part of the Council, I have never even made a decision to join the Council. I did not have the authority to do this, even in the period from 2015 to 2017, because only the Committee could make such decisions, and I was never a member of it. There were no Council meetings after April 20, 2017, and therefore it made no sense to admit anyone there.

At the court hearing, Your Honor, listening to the testimony of witnesses and studying the case materials, listening to recordings, I tried to understand what my fault was. What should I have done or not done to avoid being considered a criminal? I do not understand the essence of the crime imputed to me. And if I still don't understand what the criminality of my actions is, then how could I commit such a serious crime intentionally, and even conspire with someone about it? I did not conspire with anyone to commit a crime and had no criminal intent.

Your Honor, I've been thinking about the article I'm being judged on and trying to get to the bottom of it. I realized that it is aimed at overcoming people's prejudices. To eliminate prejudices caused by racial, national, social or some kind of religious differences. Prejudice is a global problem, Your Honor. You probably know this well, it's a cruel reality. It is everywhere, although at the same time most people condemn prejudice against others. This is an amazing paradox. How could something that causes so much outrage, against which the efforts of state bodies are directed, be so rooted in human society? Apparently, many of those who condemn prejudice do not notice them in themselves.

What is prejudice? This is a biased negative opinion or attitude towards someone or something, a false, preconceived negative opinion, prejudice. Prejudice is not natural to humans. It is always acquired. Even the apostles of Jesus Christ also sometimes showed prejudice. But Jesus did not allow himself to be influenced by prejudice and was completely impartial. He taught his students to be above suspicion and intolerance, and he did the same.

One day, Jesus praised a Roman centurion who was not a Jew. Jesus also preached to the Samaritans. He told the parable of the good Samaritan, encouraging each of us to take an example from him, and showed that the Samaritan — a man of another nationality and another religion, who was treated not just with prejudice, but with hostility — could teach Jews true love for their neighbor. If we are honest with ourselves, we will agree that deep down in our hearts, each of us has some kind of prejudice. The absence or lack of information can affect our attitude towards others. We may know so little about a topic or have such perverse or incomplete information that there simply won't be enough necessary facts for correct conclusions. Although everyone may have views that are not devoid of bias, this does not mean that they will necessarily develop into prejudices. A preconceived opinion becomes a prejudice only when, having received new knowledge, a person does not change his point of view. A prejudiced person is not interested or disposed to explore something in more detail.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King delivered his most famous speech. It was called "I have a dream." With this phrase, which was repeated in his speech, he repeatedly expressed the hope that one day people would be freed from the slavery of prejudice. What has been achieved? Of course, there are countries where certain successes have been achieved. But some experts believe that the changes made at best help to prevent discrimination, but they are apparently powerless to eliminate prejudice. Why? Because discrimination is an action that can be prosecuted, while prejudice is associated with attitudes and emotions that are not so easy to control with the help of rules.

Often, people have simply learned to hide their hostile feelings well rather than eradicate them from their hearts. And the cycle of hatred begins with thoughts and feelings. That's why it's not enough to keep track of your words and actions, deeper changes are needed. You need to completely eradicate these feelings from your mind and heart. "Do not slander the king in your thoughts," is written in the Book of Ecclesiastes. This encourages me to follow my thoughts again and control my desires. It was the Bible that helped many, including me, to develop such qualities as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, faith, meekness, self-control. These qualities neutralize hatred and prejudice. By developing these wonderful qualities, we will maintain peaceful relations with everyone and, last but not least, with ourselves.

Your Honor, I also want to draw attention to the 125th article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which reads as follows: "For knowingly leaving a person in a life- or health-threatening condition without help," and so on. This article, as you can see, does not prohibit, but encourages you to do something. I wholeheartedly share this thought. We need to help someone who is in trouble. Your Honor, it may surprise you that Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is reflected almost verbatim in the Bible: "Help out those who are led to death and do not move away from those who are doomed to death. You will say, "We did not know about this!", but the One who tests the hearts knows everything and knows. The guardian of your life — He will reward everyone according to their merits" (The Book of Proverbs).

What prompted the state to establish criminal liability under Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation? Maybe the doctrine that the strongest survives? Of course not. This is the love that Jehovah God gave us, it prompted us to write Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If I had fallen silent as a Jehovah's Witness, I would have violated this very law of God and Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Applying biblical principles in my life, I saw that the more good qualities I apply in my life, the easier it is to maintain peaceful relationships with others. "Happy are the peacemakers, because they will be called the sons of God" (Matthew Gospel). Peacemakers are those who actively promote peace, that is, they make every effort on their part to maintain peace with others. The fact that I share knowledge from the Word of God, I compare myself to a weather forecaster. Why? Because just as forecasters only warn about an impending hurricane and cannot influence it in any way, so I can only warn people, and whether to listen to it or not is up to people to decide for themselves.

I have already quoted Hebrews 13:18, which says that honesty is very important to me. It says that "we want to behave honestly in everything." Interestingly, when it comes to benefits, people are willing to justify a little dishonesty, as one psychology professor said, "in fact, we resort to deception exactly to the extent that it allows us to remain more or less honest people in our eyes." But the Bible encourages me to do good things, to be honest, even in small things, "so that the man of God may be prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17).

We have already heard a lot of lies in this trial, but I want to draw your attention to the fact that I have nothing against the investigator and the prosecutor. I understand that they are not on their own in this matter and are forced to defend the position that they are told by their duty.

Your Honor, there is an expression: the more often a lie is repeated, the more true it becomes. Throughout the trial, the accusation was made against me, but there was no evidence for it either in the audio recordings, in the results of the searches, or in the testimony of witnesses.

There is another aphorism: while the truth was being put on, the lie managed to circumvent half the world. This aphorism emphasizes that sometimes some unreliable data, false information spreads very quickly, and the truth remains somewhere in the background. The most dangerous lie is the one that is 99% true, because it is still a lie, but it is difficult to distinguish. But I am glad, Your Honor, that the truth did come out, although belatedly, but it was. Love motivates me to use all my mental, emotional and physical abilities in all areas of my life. This is clearly seen in the materials of the criminal case. What is not in the case file is hostility, hatred, malice on my part, no evidence is provided.

For 25 years now, I have seen the unsurpassability of God's wisdom. There are many universities in the world, but there is not one that teaches conscience or encourages the development of good qualities. People divided the world into countries, and Jehovah's Witnesses, living according to biblical principles, were able to unite and solve racial problems. Some people try to circumvent the laws, while Jehovah's Witnesses love the laws and try to make efforts to comply with them. Could the state live, for example, not on taxes, but, for example, on anonymous voluntary donations? The answer is obvious. In general, life without God can be compared to a child from an orphanage. He seems to have everything, but there is no love of relatives. Therefore, many are inherently like orphans — they are provided with everything, but without love. On the other hand, if a person lacks love for others, then he shows completely different qualities, such as jealousy, pride, selfishness, resents others and refuses to forgive them. Your Honor, I don't want to have such traits.

Your Honor, I want to quote the well-known, winged expression of Kozma Prutkov to many: "If you read the inscription "buffalo" on the elephant's cage, do not believe your eyes." The author left the right to the reader to choose and decide for himself what to believe — the inscription or what is in the cage. In my opinion, the court is now facing a similar choice. What to believe? The fact that someone wrote on paper that me and my friends are criminals? Or the fact that the court sees with its own eyes evidence of my innocence, our innocence before the law. As Cicero said, "The power of a judge's conscience is great." What can I say about proving my guilt in extremism? You know, it's amazing, but it's very similar to when Jesus' opponents exposed him as a criminal in front of Pontius Plato. "Then Pilate went out to them. "What are you accusing this man of?" - he asked. "If he had not been a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you for trial," they replied" (John 18:29, 30). That was all the evidence.

What evidence is there regarding my extremism? In fact, none. We have not heard a single word or action in court. Even the indictment says: "There are no victims." The bottom line is that you are an extremist because you are a Jehovah's Witness. For more than a year and a half, first the investigator and now the prosecutor have been proving that I am a Jehovah's Witness. I have not denied this from the very beginning and now I do not deny it and I am even proud of it. Your Honor, I am not some kind of fanatic, my faith is based on scientific, historical, archaeological and other evidence and facts that only confirm the authenticity of the Bible. Jehovah's Witnesses try to adhere to Christianity in the form in which Jesus founded it and how the apostles acted.

Your Honor, I have a dream and a reasonable hope that people will get rid of all forms of prejudice, including racial, social and religious ones. Your Honor, now you have to retire to the conference room and decide the question: who needs to be protected? A guilty verdict will not protect anyone, there are no victims. Whatever the verdict of the respected court, you and I, dear defenders, my dear relatives, friends, have no reason to be sad. If there is an acquittal, then we will all sincerely rejoice in the triumph of justice. We should be glad that we live in a democratic and legal state, where the Constitution is not an empty formality, and every citizen is guaranteed freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Where worship of the Creator of the universe, the father of Jesus Christ, Jehovah God, is not considered a crime.

If the verdict is guilty, I personally will be glad that I can actually prove that I serve my God out of love, and not out of self-interest. I am ready to serve him not only when everything is good, when he blesses me. I am ready to make any sacrifice for him, and with his help I will be able to withstand whatever he allows. Thanks to this, many more people will be able to find out the answer to the question posed by Pontius Pilate to Jesus Christ: "What is truth?" You can take away my freedom or even my life, but not take away my love for God and neighbors.

Your Honor, I ask you to acquit me and clear my good name!

Summary of the case

Region:

Moscow

Locality:

Moscow

Criminal case number:

12102450035000080

Initiated:

August 24, 2021

The current stage of the case:

The appeal

Is being investigated by:

SU for the Southern Administrative District of the GSU of the IC of Russia for Moscow

Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

282.2 (1)

Case number in court:

01-0211/2023 (01-1003/2022)

Court of First instance:

Cheremushkinsky District Court

Judge of the Court of First instance:

Sergey Khomyakov